Sweet Mementos
by TheDarkFlygon
Summary: Takeru has confessed to the tune of a cheesy pop song courtesy of Ai. That's a tiny fact in itself, but it also has an impact when he does get a visit from his girlfriend courtesy of his recently picked-on habits.


It was a dumb thing to do, but Takeru had picked up singing as a way to cope with the memories of the Lost Incident once Flame came into his life. Of course, he would never let anyone hear him do so: his singing voice clearly wasn't the best, he would forget most of the lyrics of the songs he liked on the radio, and he unironically liked some very cheesy songs.

One in particular had stood up to him and he would often find himself humming it when focusing on something like homework or preparing his deck before entering Link VRAINS with Flame, Yusaku and Ai. Kusanagi had once noticed him do so, but the latter explained him it was all fine and that he knew other people who liked to hum songs to feel better or help them doing something.

As such, he'd simply start humming from time to time, without really even knowing it sometimes. Flame would most often notice it and tell him about it, always making him feel somewhat ridiculous with the light-hearted tease he'd receive with the tiny remark. In a way, it was a mere little game between the two of them.

It was one of those summer afternoons where Takeru still was alone in his little flat and wondered, between two discussions with his newly-found friends through text messages and taking a long break from dangerous card games, whether or not he should stay in Den City or move back to his town of origin as to reunite with his grandparents and his best friend, Kiku. Well, his girlfriend of a couple weeks, but he was still not over this yet. It was so sudden, yet so natural, to step up their game that way.

He had confessed to her through a videocall, Yusaku and Kusanagi having shown him how to set one up, a cheesy pop music in the background as to "set the mood" according to Ai (Kusanagi eventually changed it). It had felt weird, for sure, but she was proud of him for evolving with his time and using technology more and more without losing sight of reality. He could say the same about her if he didn't already find her near-perfect for her kindness and patience with him and his previously very stupid and rude face.

So his surprise when he opened the door to Kiku holding in her hands a little bad was full.

He didn't expect anyone to come in his poorly-furnished flat (come on, he had his kitchen and his bed in the same room), so he felt embarrassed at the idea of presenting her this mess that was a representation of his slightly scatter-brained spirit. Even if she had known him at his worse, he didn't really want to show that hadn't really improved about him since then.

"Ah, huh… Hello, Kiku…!" He tried to play it cool. "I wasn't expecting a visit today, so my flat is a bit of a mess…"

"It's fine, sorry for showing up unexpectedly! I just thought I'd take some time during the break to pay you a visit."

He introduced her to his little den of his. Even if he would wholeheartedly agree that Kusanagi's hotdog truck is also his headquarters, his flat is still a place of full privacy and mostly calm to work on homework on the weekends or simply enjoy a nice rest from time to time. She never complained about the partial untidiness of the place, instead asking him how he sustained himself all alone like this, making sure he was eating and drinking correctly by investigating his kitchen and the contents of his fridge.

"Do you stay here for more than today?" He asked her as they finished their little tour. "If you don't, I'll be glad to have you over, I have a futon in case Yusaku or Aoi would do so!"

"It won't be necessary, I've booked a hotel room for the night. It's very kind of you to propose it anyway."

The rest of the afternoon may have as well been the calmest date ever. They sat on his bed and talked about various things, about duels and the life in their town, how they should see each other tomorrow too and how he could introduce her to everybody else. Flame was visiting the Cyberse with Ai and Aqua this day, making him absent, but he could introduce her to him one of these days too. It was all fixed soon enough: they would go there on the day after.

As the discussion calmed down to a halt and a comfortable silence, as he daydreamed and she took the time to respond to some messages from her parents and his grandparents, he started humming to himself absentmindedly a tone he couldn't truly retrace back the reason why it felt so familiar to him.

"Wait," Kiku suddenly spoke up as she blinked lightly. "I think I recognize this song."

"W-what song?"

"The one you were just humming! I feel like I've heard it somewhere before…"

Oh God, he had started singing again. That was kind of embarrassing, but in front of her, it felt less so. Why, he couldn't exactly tell.

"Oh, I think it's just the song Ai was playing when I asked you out…"

Kiku gently giggled.

"That's right, I remember now!"

Then she looked surprised and pulled something out of her backpack.

"I almost forgot, I brought you those!"

She put in his hands a little bag of very familiar sweets. He had been desperate to find these in Den City but had never been able to: they turned out to be very local specialties and he was, honestly, craving them and had only forgotten about it because of the events in Link VRAINS and the Ignis Warfare crisis.

"You brought these for me?! Thank you so much!"

He couldn't help but hug her perhaps a bit too tightly.

"You're the best, Kiku!"

The following day, after eating breakfast, making himself presentable and picking Kiku up at her hotel, they made their ways to Café Nagi where everyone in their little team was there, even the Ignes. In a rare and completely unexpected last-minute twist, even Earth was there, having accompanied Aqua to the "real world".

"Yusaku, Kusanagi, Aoi, Miyu, this is my childhood friend, Kiku!" he told his friends as he introduced her.

"It's a pleasure to meet everyone! Takeru has told me a lot about all of you. Thank you for watching over him."

They all responded in their own ways, with Aoi and Miyu being the most excited about the newcomer and Kusanagi smirking in the background.

"Strangely, Takeru has forgotten to say Kiku and he were dating," Flame had to add to the conversation.

"We know," Yusaku said flatly, but then Miyu and Aqua's curiosity rose even more.

"You didn't have to add that, Flame, really… It's not been for long, but… yeah."

"I'm sure the music helped!" Ai said in a voice filled with glim and crescent-shaped eyes.

"It actually kind of did," Takeru confirmed with a smile.

And, as if this was a sitcom, most of them laughed at it.

"Wait, everyone," Kiku suddenly remembered aloud as she got out a second little bag of sweets, "I've brought a gift for everyone!"

"You did?" Kusanagi replied with an interested expression. "That's pretty cool of you!"

And, judging by Ai's face, he wished he could eat these.


End file.
